Ryan Thorpe, just 22 years old, has the South Surrey Eagles soaring
Ryan Thorpe wasn’t expecting to answer his calling quite so soon, but the way it kept announcing itself in his life, he must have just decided it was his fate to coach junior hockey.
On Wednesday, Thorpe leads his South Surrey Eagles into Chilliwack in a showdown for first place in the B.C. Hockey League’s Mainland Division against the Chiefs.
Oh, and did we mention that he’s just 22 years old, a mere two years older than some of his players?
“I don’t think about it until I look at my birth year beside a couple of our 20-year-olds’ birth years,” laughs Thorpe, who played on the team two seasons ago and served as an assistant coach last season. “That’s when I see the two-year age difference. But there haven’t been any situations where it’s been awkward. We’ve just approached it like I was 50.”
His players say he brings the best of both worlds, in that he can relate to them easier yet maintain the player-coach relationship with veteran aplomb.
Justin Togiai, 20, explained what it was like when he joined the team this offseason:
“When you hear there’s a 22-year-old head coach, you’re kind of expecting this first-year guy that is new to everything,” said the former WHL player.
“But he knows how to deal with situations that older coaches that haven’t [played] the game in the past few years, wouldn’t be able to take care of. We keep it straight that he’s the coach, but he knows our emotions run high and he has a good perspective on how to treat situations and react to how we’re feeling.”
As one of three Eagles who has played with Thorpe, 20-year-old Sean Patterson has seen the maturation process up close.
“He was always such a good leader on the team that that just kind of transferred into assistant coach and then head coach,” said Patterson. “But I just think of him as the head coach, not as someone who is almost the same age as me. Everyone has such huge respect for him; that’s why we’re winning.”
For Thorpe, a former winger who chased his NHL dream but was slowed by shoulder injuries, the best part is that he soaked up and savoured his moments along the way.
At age 16, his head coach with the Kamloops Blazers was current Kelowna bench boss Marc Habscheid, who coached the Rockets to the WHL title last spring.
At age 17, Thorpe played two-plus seasons for the Spokane Chiefs, where his head coach was Mike Babcock, who now coaches the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
In fact, there was a time last spring when Thorpe could turn on the TV and see Habscheid coaching Kelowna at the Memorial Cup and Babcock guiding the Ducks into the Stanley Cup final. You may notice the trend here.
“Marc was a demanding and intense coach who never let us get away with anything and that has a lot to do with my maturity,” said Thorpe, who was given the chance to become an assistant by former Eagles head coach Mark Holick. “And I can’t say enough good things about Babs. Just getting the opportunity to listen to him and be around him every day, you learn a lot about what it takes to get to the next level.”
Thorpe got his chance.
In 1999, he was a fifth-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks. He went to two training camps with the team. And it’s all of those combined experiences that have helped him relate to and motivate his players.
For example, Thorpe can relate Babcock’s success in Anaheim last season to any of the myriad details he covers on a day-to-day basis with his own team.
“When I can tell my guys, ‘This guy has been coaching junior hockey and now he’s in the NHL and he’s teaching the same thing,’ it lets us know that there’s no big secret to what it takes to win,” said Thorpe, who has guided his team to a 12-6-0-2 mark in his first 20 games.
“Every day that I’m driving to the rink, I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this,” said Thorpe, who came to Surrey as a player after he was cut by the expansion Giants and now coaches former Giant T.J. Mulock.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling. And I do hope that if I do have a prolonged career in this business that that feeling never goes away, because that’s what it’s all about.”
htsumura@png.canwest.com
